Canniffe Awarded Prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship

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27 October 2015 — Daniel Canniffe, a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Penn State University has been awarded the prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Fellowship funded by the European Commission.

The fellowship is named after the two-time Nobel Prize winning French scientist, Marie Skłodowska-Curie, who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. The fellowship enables researchers from Europe to conduct 1-2 years of work at an institution outside of the European Union, before a final year back at a university in Europe. Proposals are judged on their research quality, the researcher's future career prospects, and the support offered by the host organization.

Dr. Canniffe will spend two years in the research laboratory of Donald A. Bryant, Ernest C. Pollard Professor in Biotechnology and Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology before returning to the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom. Daniel’s research focuses on the modification of the pigments and proteins involved in the capture of light energy in phototrophic bacteria, in an attempt to expand the range of the solar spectrum that can be used to drive photosynthesis in these organisms.

Dr. Canniffe said, “Under the same call, the Marie Skłodowska-Curie European Fellowships fund 1-2 years work at a European University for researchers from anywhere in the world; this may be of interest to U.S./non-European science postdoctoral scholars at Penn State University.” More information can be found on the European Commission website.